CRAIG Bellamy has been rightfully lauded as the man who guided one Storm through another. But he was not flying solo.

Broncos great Kevin Walters has been standing quietly in Bellamy's shadow for the past two years as assistant coach, learning and listening.

He has left his own subtle imprint on the team that has now won 13 games in succession, the turmoil of the salary cap scandal left well behind.

He is quietly waiting for an elusive NRL head coaching position.

Walters was beaten in a photo finish for the Wests Tigers job by Mick Potter for this season, so his traineeship goes on with no guarantees.

But he has the satisfaction of knowing he has given it his best shot.

During one dramatic moment in the Storm's 32-26 defeat of the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last round, Bellamy's pursed lips screwed so sharply to the left it looked as if they were going to sneak behind his ear and perhaps even eat it.

"Craig has a really good sense of humour but is really intense with everything he does. That's not me.

"It is a great effort to work successfully under the amount of pressure Craig puts on himself. I could not do it. I would be a mess on the floor.

"That is the way he likes it and he does it as well as anybody. I get more excited than nervous but the pressure on the head coach is always greater."

Walters feels Melbourne has been good for him.

Whether it be sending Walters to a ground to see where the sun will be at kick-off the next day or somehow finding out that opposition fullback Ben Barba was not on a plane to Melbourne so would not play, Bellamy has an appetite for detail, great and small.

"I have always been able to see the big picture really clearly but sometimes the smaller picture is not as important to me as it should be," Walters said.

"Craig is the opposite.

"When the Storm lost those five games last year he was really down but I wasn't because I knew we had our top players coming back. But he has taught me to see the little picture.

"Melbourne has been the best possible place to polish up my skills. I've spent the past 10 years preparing to get a crack at a head coach's position and I have never felt more ready."

When Broncos fans think of Walters, the mind's eye often pictures him in an old Powers jersey, the boy who was going to be 25 forever.

Suddenly he is 45. He is not sure if his big break will come but he feels he is ready for it.

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